The Obstacles In Her Way
by googons
Summary: A one shot of Arya. My idea of what her thoughts would be during the time of her rulling. Not a very good summery...


**AN:**

Ok so I know I said in "Family Reunion" that the next story will have more action in it but seeing as this one's published with the other one, I think that's ok…

This is a one-shot that follows Arya and shows a bit about what she thinks about her job as a queen. I know it's short but deal with it. I had an idea and I rolled with it.

Don't worry about spoilers to "Family Reunion"… there won't be any.

I don't own the Inheritance Cycle…

**The obstacles in her way:**

"No, this is just unacceptable!"

"And who are you to decide that? The forest is not your own!"

"Neither is it yours! You do not have the right to change the order of things that have been around for eons!"

Arya sighed tiredly and rubbed her temple. This argument was going on for a few good hours already and it was leading them nowhere.

'Do you want me to cook them?' Firnen asked. He'd been trying to take her mind off this boring meeting ever since it started.

'That's actually not a bad idea' she said and pictured the argument ending with a short burst of flames and running elves trying to put themselves out. 'If this goes for longer than an hour I might just let you do it.'

'It's already taking more than ten hours and you've lost a meal and are about to lose another one!'

'Tell me about it.' Her stomach rumbled to emphasize her point.

'Are you gonna stop this or what?' Firnen asked after a point was made for the third time.

'What do you want me to do? I can't simply dismiss his ideas but I also can't accept it because of its stupidity!'

'That is one stupid idea. I never would have expected an elf to want to turn the leaves of the trees gold.'

"Green is a beautiful color and it's been the color of most trees and plants since the time of the Gray Folk and probably even before them! You will not change it!"

"Enough!" Arya half shouted as she saw the other elf about to respond to this last statement. "We have been sitting here for much longer than I care to admit and I have had quite enough of this argument." Everyone in the room were looking at her, waiting to see what she would decide on the matter.

"While the idea is interesting, I think that it is unheard of to turn a n entire forest gold, especially one as old as ours.

"Besides" she said as the young elf was about to say something more. "The trees are being cut down by humans enough as it is. We have finally reached a point of balance and turning the trees gold will only serve to ruin this delicate balance and destroy our homeland."

She scanned the sitting crowd, daring them to say something on the contrary, and stopped for a longer time on the young elf that brought up the subject and ruined her day.

"This meeting is adjourned, and I don't want to hear something as stupid as that ever again" she added quietly to Dathedr who was sitting next to her.

"Yes my queen" he said and she thought he agreed with her on the subject.

'Should I meet you in the gardens?' Firnen asked, sensing her intentions.

'Yes. I will just get some food and be there shortly.'

When she did she walked to the middle of the garden and sat on a bench made especially to her and by her order. It was placed just next to a magical spring and a bed of the most amazing flowers Arya has ever seen _and_, she thought, _the most beautiful there's ever been_.

They were gilded lilies. Actually gilded lilies. Anyone could mistake them for a piece of art made by an exceptional artist but Arya knew better. She'd been there the night they were gilded and still treasured the memory. They were a gift to her from Eragon.

Directly in front of her, foremost amongst the other flowers, laid the original lily that was made for her and that she treasured more than any other.

She bent down and smelled the lily, marveling again at how perfect it was.

She sat in quiet with her back to the bench and Firnen at her side eating her late lunch. She had a clearing made for Firnen so that she could sit there with him; she really liked this spot and wanted to share it with him.

'You know,' Firnen said, 'for a flower it's really surviving well the years. Not every flower would survive for more than fifty years.'

'I think it's the spirits' magic.' She hadn't thought about it until now but it made sense that it was the reason.

'So the day was a complete waste of time?'

'It certainly was. I've got nothing to show for my day's work except a headache.'

'Well, at least you can take the rest of the day off now… there's not enough time to start a new meeting.'

'I know but I still wish that I'd gotten something done. It's really starting to annoy me, all these politics.'

'Arya, I know you wish to be done with this but some things cannot be rushed. You will just hinder you cause if you start rushing things with the elves.'

'I know that. It's still annoying though.'

'Then take comfort in the fact that you have me here with you and that you still have Eragon, although he's not here.'

'But that's the whole point! I'm stuck here trying to help people who don't seem to want to help themselves, what with all the rubbish they're talking about, while I could be with Eragon and actually do some good with rebuilding the riders!'

'I know you want to be with him but you've made a promise. You said you'd restore the elves to their former glory and you're doing that. I know it's hard to see because you still remember the forest as it was more than a hundred years ago, but I can see the improvement. You're doing a great job, far better than any other elf could have.

'I want to leave too' he said after he'd given her time to think about what he'd said. 'I don't want to sit here all year long with no visible goal and nothing to do, but I know that we have a job to do and that, right now, our duty is here. But don't worry, it won't be that way forever and that soon enough we'll see Eragon and Saphira once more.'

'You're right, I'm sorry.' She felt bad for him for as much as she was frustrated, he was far more. He had almost nothing to do and she was responsible for that.

'It's not your fault' he said sensing were her thoughts were taking her. 'I agreed with you that you should become queen and I knew what it meant.'

'I still could have made it better.'

'I've got it!' she said after a moment's thought. 'What do you say about us leaving the forest every now and then to fulfill out rider's duties?'

'I think that's a great idea!' Firnen said and she could feel his excitement.

'Then I'll send a message to Murtagh tomorrow and tell him of our plan. I'm sure he'll be happy for a week's vacation.'

'In the meantime, what do you say about a short flight?'

They spent the rest of the day in the air, fighting invisible enemies or simply drifting on the warm air currents from the ground.

When the sun was hidden behind the tree tops Firnen folded his wings and plummeted to the ground. About ten feet above the tree tops he opened them and stopped the decent just a few inches over the top of the closest tree.

'That was too close!' Arya said despite the feeling of elevation she was experiencing.

'What's life without a little risk?'

After they landed Arya went to the Crags of Tel'naeir and practiced with a sword and did the Rigmar. After that she went and washed up at a nearby stream. By that time it was already dark and Arya was very tiered.

She entered the small house and took a look around.

The house was pretty much the same way it was when Oromis lived here except for a few things. For one, the mirror that was once over the sink, was now on one of the shelves and connected to Roran's. There were also a few new books there and a new fairths.

There was one of Firnen as a newly hatched dragon, small and vulnerable. 'Small and deadly' Firnen corrected her the first time and sent her into a fit of laughter. He was shorter than a cat and just a bit longer than one. His eyes were hungrily scanning all in sight, drinking in all of his surroundings, and his tail was swiftly swinging from side to side, knocking down every small object in its way and smacking loudly into the bigger ones.

Next to it was a fairth of him as a grown dragon, much bigger than the hut she was in now and as formidable as any other dragon. His head was held high and proud, his talons cut deep into the forest floor, and his light green scales were beautiful with the deep green and brown background of the forest.

There were a few other fairths there. One of her mother and father and was given to her by one of the elves who knew them before the Fall. There were a few fairths of the forest, plants, clearings, a stream.

But the ones she cherished the most were of, what at first sight could be mistaken for an elven couple.

These were pictures of her and Eragon. She made the first one the day that Eragon left and added a new one every few years.

The first fairth she made was in the middle of the wall and was the largest. It had a picture of Eragon and Arya in each other's hands, their foreheads leaning on each other. Behind them a wooden railing was visible, behind it a deep blue river and behind it were strange and unknown lands. It was a picture of them on their last moment together before Arya left the ship to go back to the elves. They had just kissed for the first time and the memory of that kiss still made her ears burn after all these years. What she really liked about this image was their faces. You could see clearly in them the deep feelings they held towards each other. It made her happy to know that there was someone who cared so much about her, even if he was hundreds of leagues away.

Around it were a few fairths, some from Alagaesia and some from Dras Garjzla, but all of them had the beautiful and elegant features of Eragon, sometimes alone, sometimes with Saphira, and sometimes with her or Firnen.

The fairths had a lot of emotions in them, love, happiness, a tinge of sadness. Emotions she could not allow others to see and neither did she want them to see them. As a precaution she had a spell on them to either hide them or to have anyone she didn't allow to see them, see another fairth.

After she quickly scanned the wall she took her clothes and changed to her night garments.

She got under the covers and was immediately greeted with sudden warmth. She looked to her left and saw the fairth on her bedside table. This one was relatively small compared to the other ones and had a picture of a smiling Eragon, his hair blowing softly in a warm summer breeze and his eyes filled with pure joy.

She smiled at the image, kissing her index and middle fingers to her moth and pressing them to the image, before she drifted to her waking dreams.

**AN:**

So… what did you think? Please review and tell me!


End file.
